Any ENDER

Mike Dougherty and Dan Harris are damn good guys, and good writers to boot. They’re also shit-hot right now thanks to X2, and this is very good news:

Hi guys.

Looks like the X-Men 2 writers have signed on to do the 2nd draft of the Ender's Game screenplay (Card himself wrote up the 1st draft). With Wolfgang Peterson still directing, it looks like this could actually be a very good movie. Here's hoping!

Here's an article on the production company's website w/ info about the Variety story and some enthusiastic comments by Card:

Awesome. I love ENDER’S GAME, and I’ve wanted to see this adapted right for a long time. With these two on the case, I’m confident that the project is in the right hands. Can’t wait to see what eventually happens with the project...

They could do so much more if they did it as a 2 or 3 night mini series. But I look forward to it. On another note, I can only hope that Card and Petersen will fight the suits at WB in having an all White cast, when in the book there were students of all races there. Makes me sick to think that executives at WB have said that they want the students to be mostly White.

to do this on film. Even If they had a budget of $100 million, (which they won't,) they still wouldn't be able to put together a cast that consists of dozens of competent actors between the ages of 6 and 12. Not to mention the fact that some of these characters nearly double in age during the course of the story.______ I hope to see a classy animated story, maybe a trilogy, but I'm not holding my breath. I'd like to see something new, not just run-of-the-mill anime, (unless it's Myazaki, of course, but that won't happen either)_______ Unless this film is animated, a racially whitewashed cast will be the least of our complaints. imagine Ender played by some idiot 16 year old. Ugh.

I've read the book, and based on the story, it doesn't seem like a huge budget would be necessary. The majority of the story takes place in one location, and many of the big space battles are seen as little dots on a screen. Of course, I'm sure when they make the film they'll make things more visually exciting than that, but still, if they were able to make The Matrix for $65 million, and Aliens for $18 million, then this movie could easily be made for less than $100 million.

As someone mentioned before, the prospect of finding a handful of decent actors between the ages of 6 and 12 is going to be practically impossible. Throw that in with a story that (in my opinion) seems dated by sci-fi standards, and you've got yourself Wing Commander II. OK, I'm obviously being harsh. I just have no excitement to ever see this made into a movie. Leave it as a book! You can do that, you know.

It's already been stated elsewhere that the movie is being rewritten to take place over the course of a couple months rather than years. Yes, it's going to be tough to find competent actors, but that didn't stop M. Knight from finding Haley Joel Osment. Good kid actors are out there, and Peterson did get good performances out of several characters in The Neverending Story. (I blame the script for the cheesiness.)
It might not be good. But it's too early to write it off.

Feb. 17, 2004, 4:53 a.m. CST

by Hairy Nutsack

The movie will be both Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow so I'm having trouble with how they'll pack both stories into one movie, but two movies would be fine! For those who think finding a large cast of talented young ones is impossible I have one word for you, SANDLOT. Also, there would have to be a fairly large budget for convincing zero-G battles in the Battle School, either wirework or CG or both.

so i hope if it becomes a movie, it kinda ends with the first one. i think forever war should be made into a movie... would be refreshing to see a sci fi flick deal with relativistic phenoms without fudging it with warp or hyperspace.

I can't say I'd know what I was doing if I were to discuss how to make the battle room happen, but I feel I can weigh in one the sims at the end. One word: "Homeworld." Anyone that's played this knows exactly what I mean. It has all the aspects of Card's descriptions: the gamut of ships from smallest to largest in the most minute detail, tactics from large groups to single ships, maneuvers, and best of all that zooming function. Now if we could get Paul Ruskay to do the music, make sure the cast isn't all white, and make sure the ending stays intact, then we'd have a winner. At least, I'd go see it.

Feb. 19, 2004, 2:15 a.m. CST

by jinchoung

the enemy is down.
battle school could easily be done with wires. unless sony gets that orbital soundstage finished for the production.

Children acting violently, being mistreated, xenocide of a race, etc. No studio is going to allow this stuff to be put on screen. And what about the child nudity? The shower fight with bonzo for example? I think a previous talkback got it right, they're gonna suck the life and drama out of the books and make this wing commander 2. I hope Card lays the smack down if that happens.

I live in Greensboro, NC (Card's place of residence) and he writes for an EXTREME right wing weekly publication here that you can pick up free.
In the latest issue he claims that gay people are gay because they were either raped or molested. He also HATED "Lost in Translation" and "About Schmidt" because he has this odd paranoia that films with a sense of humor are condescending and a conspiracy of the liberal left. You would ave to live here to understand how hated this guy is.